Reviews VideoGame / Dragon Age Inquisition

Good core, lots of padding.

As I write this review, I have not yet finished Dragon Age: Inquisition. I chip away at it for a few days, then do something else with my free time for a few weeks, then come back to chip away some more.

Make no mistake, there is definitely a good game here. The characters, even Sera, whom I can't stand, are well-written and engaging, the story is epic in scope and builds on previous lore without copying previous games. The combat, while still rote MMO click-and-wait, is at least fast-paced and offers tweaks on the formula. And returning faces from earlier in the series are well-utilized, in-character, and generally don't take over the story or overshadow the new ones. Plus, the color palette finally moves away from Real Is Brown for some genuinely eye-catching environments.

I particularly like the political elements. The War Table, despite quibbles with its implementation, is a good idea for adding scope to the Inquisition's activities, and sitting on my Sweet-Ass Judgement Throne to hear prisoners plead their cases was a cool power trip. And, while I may not be fully happy with the conclusions available to the Orlesian Court storyline, I admit that that's probably part of the point.

But, all of the best parts of the game are buried in padding. Environments are good-looking, but many of them have too much empty space between the exploration rewards, and even if you aren't a completionist like me, detours will be required to unlock new parts of the map. Grinding pervades every level of the experience, from herb-gathering and metal-mining (craftable goods are generally better than anything you pick up too), to obnoxious wandering packs of enemies wasting time, to the War Table's implementation of Free-to-Play-style real-time timers to try to "train" the player into coming back. It seems to have added lots of MMO elements into a predominately single-player game, but not with a full understanding of the differences between the two genres.

Whatever you take away from this review, don't let it be that Inquisition isn't worth your time and money, because it absolutely is. But, keep in mind, the parts you want to do will often require lots of obnoxious busy-work first, and if, like me, you are something of a completionist, this game is going to drive you up a wall with its negative possibility space.